Opening Bell: 6.21.17
Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Resigns as C.E.O. (NYT)
Earlier on Tuesday, five of Uber’s major investors demanded that the chief executive resign immediately. The investors included one of Uber’s biggest shareholders, the venture capital firm Benchmark, which has one of its partners, Bill Gurley, on Uber’s board. The investors made their demand for Mr. Kalanick to step down in a letter delivered to the chief executive while he was in Chicago, said the people with knowledge of the situation.
Wanted: CEO To Lead A Troubled Startup (FT Alphaville)
The role will be on a contract basis and compensation will be determined by our proprietary algorithm. Surge pricing may be applied on days the company is in court. The candidate will be expected to shoulder all risk and capital exposure associated with the role. Perks include a company car leased at a rate that will appear manageable at first. The car may be subject to repossession. Applicants should write to ‘Kravis Talanick’ at 1455 Market Street, San Francisco, and include a CV, cover letter and three examples of times they always been hustlin’.
Wall Street Now Fears the Lawyer Who Used to Defend It (BBG)
Today, Brockett lives in a Park Avenue apartment and has houses in the Hamptons and Florida. Until recently, he inhabited a marquee building on Central Park West whose residents include Sting and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein, a frequent target of his litigation. “We’d say hello in gym,” Brockett said, “but we weren’t best friends or anything.”
Tragicomic irony in Barclays’ criminal charges is no laughing matter (FT)
The decision by the Serious Fraud Office to include former boss John Varley on the charge sheet means the only high-profile chief executive to face prosecution for the events of 2007-08 will do so not for bringing down a bank — but trying to save one.
The 2016 Hedge Fund Rising Stars: Shining Brightly In Tough Times (II)
The daughter of first-generation Irish immigrants, a son of Indian immigrants, a Saudi national, and a woman from a small city in southwest China. All are among Institutional Investor magazine's Hedge Fund Rising Stars, class of 2017. Hedge funds have benefited from and have been made stronger by immigration. As in previous years, the 2017 pool of up-and-coming talent reflects that diversity.
Brokers May Be Giving Away Investors' Best Ideas (II)
“We can imagine an informed trader submitting an order through a broker, who can infer the informational content of the trade and spreads it to other clients, especially the ones with the closest ties...The incentive for the broker is to build a reputation as a valuable source of information and attract more business.”
Fed raising the stakes (Barnejek)
Assuming the Fed is a credible central bank (and if it isn’t then I am not sure which one is…), there is a possibility that the inflation target gets moved to 4%. In the short to medium term it would be similar to letting inflation run a little bit hot after years of low growth, which the Fed wants to allow anyway but in the long run it would be a significant change. This would mean that the Fed commits to not tightening monetary policy as aggressively as it otherwise would. Would people believe it? Sure they would!
Japanese CEO takes a cult underwear brand global (FT)
Just before Toot brings a product to market, a solemn management ritual takes place in which the company’s chief executive circulates the head office in his underpants. If the boss says he is comfortable and looks good in them, runs the delicate calculus of Japan’s high-end male underwear industry, so too will Toot’s fiercely discerning army of customers.
Trump’s Net Worth Slips to $2.9 Billion as Towers Underperform (BBG)
The decrease is driven mostly by a drop in the value of three office properties in Manhattan, where financial data compiled by Trump’s lenders offer a consistent picture: They’re underperforming appraisals conducted when Trump was issued loans. The buildings -- 40 Wall Street, Trump Tower, and 1290 Avenue of the Americas, a tower in which Trump holds a 30 percent stake -- are victims of a changing New York office market, where gleaming new skyscrapers are attracting tenants and demand for space in vintage properties is falling.
Thief steals toe used in Canadian hotel's signature cocktail (UPI)
The Sourdough Saloon at Dawson City's Downtown Hotel was enraged by the theft of the toe used to create its Sourtoe Cocktail, which is dropped in a shot of whiskey that the drinker must swallow until the toe touches their lips. "We are furious," Terry Lee, the saloon's "Toe Captain," told Global News. "This guy asked to do the Toe after the 9 to 11 p.m. toe time hours and one of the new staff served it to him to be nice – and this is how he pays her back. What a low life."